1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of checking of electronic cards.
It relates in particular to a test bench for electronic cards.
The manufacturing of electronic cards, or printed circuits, generally occurs from epoxy resin or fiberglass, on which is deposited on both sides a thin layer of copper coated with a photosensitive varnish. A plate-setter permits to “draw” the circuit, sensitizing the varnish at the selected locations. The sensitized varnish is then removed, which permits to chemically etch the copper at the same locations, and to thus obtain electrical circuits between various spots on the card. After removal of the varnish, the assembling of the components is then proceeded to.
It is then generally necessary to proceed to checking the operation of these cards. This requires checking the conformity of the current flow, the current values or the current barrier between various spots. These checking operations can of course be done manually, but require then a lot of time.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98.
From the state of the art are known checking devices 1 including a base 2, in which are implanted needles 3, or conductive nails, pointing upwards. The card 4 to be checked is placed on the nails in an adequate manner, the nails each entering into contact with a spot of the electric circuit of the electronic card. The device comprises in addition a cover 5 movable in rotation about a hinge 6, and also provided with nails, pointing downwards. When closing the cover, the nails of the cover enter into contact with the top of the electronic card. The electronic card can then be tested in its whole by an electronic management of the contacts, or the voltage between the various nails, as well as a management of the measurements of the retroactions sent back by the electronic card.
However, the opening of the cover requires a movement of the cover in an extended area above the device. Because of the possible presence of operators in this area, the opening and closing movement should be slow, in order to limit at best the risk of accidents. Moreover, an automatic checking of the presence of hands throughout the area swept by the lid during its closing or opening is quite delicate. Furthermore, the movement of the cover is generally controlled by an actuator. This actuator can be close to the hinge, but then the force applied is important and requires a strong, and therefore expensive and cumbersome, cylinder or the cylinder is arranged farther away from the hinge, and the effort is lower but then the travel distance is larger, and the cylinder is still expensive and cumbersome. Furthermore, the rotational movement of the cover induces a horizontal component of the movement of the nails, even at the moment they enter into contact with the card, which is prejudicial to the reliability of the test, on the one hand, and produces effects of wear on the nails and/or the cards being tested.